The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear an emergency application for a stay filed by a Florida deep-sea salvage company that wanted to maintain possession of a half billion dollars worth of gold and silver coins until a final decision is made about who owns them .

`` Spain has now been victorious at every level in the United States courts , from Tampa to Atlanta to Washington , '' said Jim Goold , who defended Spain 's claim to the treasure . `` I am pleased and proud for all of us . ''

Odyssey Marine Exploration had made an emergency appeal to the high court in an attempt to block a lower court 's order last week that it turn over the treasure to Spain .

Justice Clarence Thomas , who has jurisdiction over applications from Florida , denied without comment the motion in Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. v. Kingdom of Spain .

The company has filed at least one another stay request with the justices .

Melinda MacConnel , Odyssey 's vice president and general counsel , expressed disappointment , but said she recognized that the court `` rarely grants '' such motions . `` How we proceed from here will depend on whether a mandate issues and what a subsequent order might look like , especially given the fact that the courts have determined they do not have jurisdiction in the case , '' she said in a statement .

Goold said it was unlikely that the Supreme Court would review the case . `` The Supreme Court accepts 1 % or less of such requests and today 's decision makes a strong statement about their chances , '' he said .

The dispute goes back to 2007 , when Odyssey announced it had found a 19th-century sunken ship off of Spain . The company claimed ownership of the coins and said it had flown them to a guarded location in the United States .

Spain filed suit in a federal court in Tampa , Florida , also claiming the treasure .

Spain says its navy warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was carrying the coins . The 34-gun frigate left Peru in 1804 and crossed the Atlantic to within a day 's sail from Spain when British ships attacked the Spanish fleet .

In the ensuing Battle of Cape St. Mary , south of Portugal , the Mercedes was hit in its powder magazine and exploded , according to the Spanish government 's filing to the Florida court .

In 2009 , the federal court in Tampa ruled in favor of Spain and the federal appeals court in Atlanta upheld the ruling last September . Last week , the appeals court denied an Odyssey motion , which Odyssey appealed to the Supreme Court .

The appeals court is expected to send the case back to the court in Tampa , which would establish and supervise the procedures for sending the coins to Spain , Goold said last week .

Spain believes that most of the nearly 600,000 coins are currently in Florida , Goold said .

Spain 's Culture Minister , Jose Ignacio Wert , told CNN in Madrid on Wednesday that the case was never really about the money .

`` We 're not going to use this money for purposes other than artistic exhibition , but this is something that enriches our material , artistic capital and it has to be appreciated as such , '' Wert said in an interview .

He said the coins would be exhibited at Spanish museums , and perhaps elsewhere .

Peru , too , has followed the fate of the coins , which came from Latin America when Peru was a Spanish colony .

`` Formally , they have n't claimed anything , but we are completely open to consider the possibility of distributing some part of the treasure also among the Latin American museums , '' Wert said .

The treasure includes fabled `` pieces of eight , '' some minted in 1803 in Lima , Peru , Spanish officials have said .

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Odyssey 's bid to hold on to gold and silver coins was set back

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Justice Clarence Thomas declined the motion without comment

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Spain has won U.S. court rulings to date